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The desert world of Brasha was first settled by ascetics, who practiced the Shia branch of Islam. Arriving in the early twenty-sixth century, these first settlers established the city of Alaikum, which would survive both the Reunification War and the decline of the Star League, becoming a center of Shi'ite scholarship and learning. The population grew slowly as land was recovered from the desert around the oasis on which Alaikum had been built.[1]

By the middle of the thirty-first century the population of Brasha had grown to over half a million, the majority of whom were Shi'ites, but with the addition of a significant minority from the Draconis Combine who arrived as refugees, bringing both Buddhists and a practicing Shinto community. The main population expansion on Brasha occurred in the early twenty-ninth century as a result of the formation of the Alliance Military Corps, which saw a sudden demand generated for fuels and radioactives of various kind to support the Alliance Air Force. The radioactives and petrochemicals under the shifting sands of Brasha suddenly became priceless, and between 2801 and 2832 Brasha was inundated with wildcatters and mining concerns who built new towns and pipelines wherever feasible across the vast stretches of sand. These pipelines and facilities were often jury-rigged and difficult to maintain, but they allowed Brasha to prosper by the standards of the Alliance at the time.[1]

Brasha is known not just for the Shi'ite learning at Alaikum, the fuels and radioactices produced or the remarkable artwork produced by the Buddhist and Shinto communities near the western edge of the Great Northern Expanse; also of considerable note is the unique contribution made to the planetary militia by the elite infantry known as the Qum'ran Guard, named for the city from which they are recruited. The Qum'ran Guard ride tariqim, a species of predator lizard that stand six feet high at the shoulder, can store nutrients to survive internally in a fashion akin to the camels of Terra and can run at the same speed as some hovercraft or BattleMechs.[1]